Former General Motors Exec Says Electric Is “A Better Way To Do A Car”

Chevrolet Bolt In Toronto In February At The Canadian International Auto Show

“Set aside all the motivations with climate change, oil dependence—it’s just a better way to do a car. It’s simple,” says Google advisor, Lawrence Burns. Burns is General Motors’ former corporate vice president for Research and Development.

Electric cars offer many advantages over internal combustion

2016 Chevrolet Volt battery

Quiet

No emissions

Charge at home

Cheap maintenance

No oil changes

No exhaust sytems

No gasoline/diesel

Some would argue the disadvantages include lengthy charging times, limited range, and initial expense. While these are all true to a point, they are already being addressed and will soon be overcome.

Disadvantages of the ICE

Requires fuel

Regular maintenance

Operating expenses

Tailpipe emissions

Unlike the temporary disadvantages of EVs, the problems with the ICE can’t be fixed over time. The only “fix” is to move forward to new technology.

Burns explains:

“Now I’m not suggesting you run out and invest all your money in an electric car company or a company that provides materials for electric cars, but I am saying that as we move forward, it will become increasingly clear that the major players in the auto industry that don’t embrace electric vehicle technology will be on the losing end of history. So if you’re looking to invest in a car company, you may want to steer clear of any that aren’t actively building out their electric vehicle fleets. Because these, dear reader, will be the losers over the long-term.”

I suspect they have a big electric skunkworks program that they will announce after they lease out their current crop of fuel cell boondogglemobiles. They can’t be THAT stupid. Honda and Hyundai have abandoned them.

Toyota has a separate battery division within the company, known as the Toyota Battery Research Division. In June 2014 Dr. Hideki Iba from Toyota presented a solid state battery concept to an international meeting on lithium batteries in Como, Italy.

I’m pretty sure Toyota is still working on solid state batteries as of February 2016. If push comes to shove, Toyota will no doubt manufacture regular EVs and drop the fuel cell madness. (sigh)

Toyota’s proprietary hybrid technology has basically “owned” the hybrid sector. Maybe, Toyota was hoping that their fuel cell technology would give them a similar proprietary leg up over other hydrogen car wanabees.

Toyota fully realizes that EVs are the end game, they will suddenly pull that rabbit out of their hat at some point. They simply don’t want to cannibalize their dominant position in the hybrid market in the meantime. You have to remember no OEM wants to sell you a car you will be happy with in 5 years, else how would they sell you another one?

M, I think building a good electric is different enough from building a good ICE that Toyota will be stuck for 4 or 5 years building BEV’s that are little better than the current Leaf. The battery tech improvements will help Toyota, but getting the guessometer right on range and the regen settings on braking will take them a while. Given their PiP, it might not take as long but it won’t happen overnight.

Despite Toyota taking an early lead in the hybrid market with the Prius, it’s looking more and more like the company is like Blackberry in the smart phone revolution. An early leader, but rested on its laurels and ignored the fact that other companies were zipping ahead of it with advancements in the new tech.

No, I don’t think Toyota is suddenly going to “pop out” a BEV to compete with the Bolt and the Model ≡. I think they are going to be left behind, desperately trying to play catch-up as other companies push the EV revolution forward.

Yes, because Tesla is her competitor, and she’s pursuing the same kind of advantages that she would get over Nissan and Ford if she could get it.

Elon Musk knows all about manipulating the market to your advantage, which is why he had Tesla create their own charging standard so that non-Tesla vehicles would be compatible with every charging network except his.

I’m sure GM and Nissan could have thought of their own charging connectors that worked better for their needs, but instead they went through the process of standardization, because EVs will never work without standardized charging connectors. Tesla is well aware of this fact, which is why they provide J1772 and CHAdeMO adapters for the Model S.

If you’re going to include Foxconn on the list, then you should also include LG Electronics.

Neither will ever build cars, but LG is building electric powertrains for the Bolt. Foxconn doesn’t belong on that list, despite some rumors about the Apple car. Perhaps they may earn a place on the list in the future, but at best that’s only speculation.

Well that remains to be seen, doesn’t it? It’s pretty funny that anyone would actually believe an electronics producer like Foxconn can mass produce cars. That’s as absurd as claiming LG Electronics will build the Bolt, instead of just building the EV powertrain for GM to install in their cars.

BTW, I’ll happily put up my record of predictions, both those made posting as “Lensman” and as Pushy, against the predictions you’ve made regarding Tesla over the years on Seeking Alpha, where you repeat with mind-numbing regularity your false claims that Tesla Motors is hiding its true corporate performance, and eternally predicting its imminent collapse.

That’s a 100% failure rate on your part, dude.

But hey, prove me wrong. Cite one of your predictions re Tesla that turned out to actually be true. Just one.

Google has developed their own design for a prototype/test-bed self-driving car, altho perhaps has had only one of those built. Of course, they didn’t actually build it themselves, any more than Foxconn will actually build cars.

Wikipedia says: “Google has also developed their own custom vehicle, which is assembled by Roush Enterprises and uses equipment from Bosch, ZF Lenksysteme, LG, and Continental.”

I think everyone knows that BEV is a better option, but usable battery + fast charging weren’t there until recently. What is surprising is how the ICE worked all these years given all its complexity. Even fuel cell would’ve been “simpler” compared to ICE.

I was going to say one huge advantage of EVs is the lack of a transmission. That’s a heavy, expensive and complex system that is completely unnecessary. Anyone who has ever owned a Taurus, Explorer or Chrysler minivan knows what kind of problems a transmission can cause you.

Obviously, the article was comparing pure electric vehicles to ICE. That’s why they listed things like quiet, low maintenance, no oil changes, lack of exhaust system, etc. PHEVs and EREVs still have most of the ICE disadvantages and that’s why I would prefer a BEV.

What is surprising, is the other elephant- not the one in the room, but the one on the highway: Fast Charging, be it AC, or DC!

Most of the current, lower cost EV’s can do all the city driving most people need, now, but really only the Tesla’s can get you reasonably effective cross country travel, and that is because only they have a commitment to bring EV’s to everyone, in a fashion that gas is no longer needed.

Even the Chevy Volt, with the approach that one vehicle can cover your city drives or most commute drives on electric, with gas to go the distance, won’t be needed when 250 mile range EV’s are available at about $25,000 for new ones, and maybe $12,000-$15,000 when 2-3 years old, used. (So long as said EV’s can access a reliable, accessable fast charging network conveniently.)

Public Charging Networks: It is obvious that Tesla Gets it, Nissan Gets it – a Bit, and BMW is starting to get it! GM – Doesn’t even know what ‘It’ is yet!

It = The long term ingredient that makes EV’s viable for general use – and while cost reductions might get people on board, it is the best charging networks that will keep them on board, with EV’s!

Hence – when I said “What is surprising” I meant is – What is surprising, is that the article did not mention the element of Charging Networks that make EV’s happen Viably!

From Home Charging – the next step is Workplace Charging, followed by City Charging AND Highway Fast Charging.

Many People would buy from the iMiEV to the Bolt and Model 3, with Workplace charging added into the mix, and even more when you can drive the cars across the country on a usable, working, and consistently available (24×7) charging network!

Even a $10,000 EV with 200 mile range, does not solve the long distance issue!

There are certainly reasons to disparage the Falcon Wing doors, but I’m amazed this wrong-headed one caught on. Personally, I’d appreciate the overhead door acting as an umbrella when getting into and out of the car, when it’s raining or snowing.

Yeah that’s a nice pro, but (for me anyways) there are far too many cons to go with the FWD. (Roof no longer available for storage, likelihood of issues with snow/ice, reliability over the long term [both mechanically and electrically], etc)

You mean my avatar? Admittedly it is hard to make out the details in such a tiny size.

It’s the Pushmi-Pullyu, a fantasy creature originally from Hugh Lofting’s “Dr. Dolittle” stories, where it was a two-headed “gazelle-unicorn cross”; but generally represented in fan art as a two-headed llama, as it appears in one or more movies.

The falcon wing door should act as an umbrella in theory. When it’s lightly raining with little to no wind, this theory might actually pan out to be reality. However, add medium to strong wind and the falcon wing doors make the Model X a top down convertible in a strong rainstorm.

When closed, water, sleet, slush, and snow gather. on the relatively flat roof surface. Open the door and all that gets dumped at once toward the center of the vehicle.

I doubt they have adequate drainage to keep two inches of slush from all that surface area from dropping in unwelcome in poor weather conditions. It’s unpleasant enough with conventional doors. I can easily imagine the rear half of the interior being soaked when it’s nasty weather out.

Still, I can hardly wait to see a Model X in person so I can evaluate it for myself, and I truly hope to be proven wrong. That said, I know I’d very likely rather have minivan style sliding doors in back.

You do realize, I hope, that this is just another promotional piece advertising whatever futures or stocks the writer happens to want to either promote or denigrate, probably because his investment firm is either promoting them or short-selling them.

Investors almost invariably want a return on their investment within 5 years or less. So it’s beyond me why any investor would worry much about something that might start to have a noticeable economic effect “within a decade”. And might not.

This kind of thing is really hard to predict. External factors could accelerate the adoption process even more.

Suppose we have a global environmental crisis that causes a war on emissions? It’s already happening in some cities like Beijing. In others, like LA, the crisis is being remediated by gov’t standards already.

Suppose we have really cool cars from Apple and Google that make the old iron look like dial-phones. An acceleration by young buyers could cause an instant disruption. At least as ‘instant’ as cars can be built.

Suppose we have an A.I. breakthrough where a car can more intelligently assist us in our day? Would the uptake be accelerated even more?

Many of these unknown and unpredictable factors could multiply upon each other and greatly accelerate these ‘S’ curves.

I have 5 flat-screen TVs and just bought another one. There is an old working CRT TV in the second living room. Might have to give it away since nobody wants it. I still want the ‘Total Recall’ wall of video. A ceiling that shows the outside sky view would be cool as well.

I traded in one of my two Toyota hybrids for a LEAF.
I then went and parked it in front of my Toyota dealership (where I’ve bought 5 cars over the years), walked in and told them to have a full BEV by 2021, when my other hybrid will be ready for retirement, or I’d never darken their door again.